Earlier this week, superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma graced Toronto with his presence, for two related events.

The first event, on September 13, was the world premiere of the film The Music of Strangers. The documentary about Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble was presented by the Toronto International Film Festival at the Elgin Theatre. And the second event, two days later, was a live performance by Silk Road at Massey Hall.

This interview originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle, on September 11.

Opera star Susan Graham was born in Roswell, N.M., a town better known for little green men than for classical music.

She spent her teen years in Midland, Texas, where there’s more oil than opera.

Yet today, “America’s favorite mezzo” – as the influential Gramophone magazine dubbed her – is a fixture at New York’s Metropolitan. She’s also taken the stages of London’s Covent Garden, Milan’s La Scala, and opera houses in Paris and Vienna, among many others.

This article originally appeared on the Classical Voice North America website (here).

Musical cycles are special events. The focus on a composer’s complete oeuvre in a particular genre – such as the symphony or the piano sonata – is an honour reserved for those who have created a body of work that is both excellent and substantial. The performance of such a cycle also has the potential to be a significant achievement for the musicians.

Eatock Daily

I'm a composer and writer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

Here you'll find musings and meditations, some reviews and the occasional rant – as well as some of the articlesI've written for Toronto’s National Post and Globe and Mailnewspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.